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Regional tribes have contributed more than $160M to campaigns over the past decade

Organizations like CommonCause and liberal-leaning Supreme Court judges have argued that large campaign contributions can foster corruption. Still, many counties and cities in California do not limit the amount individual donors can contribute to a campaign for county supervisor or city council member.

More than two-thirds of all the tribal campaign spending came from three tribes, to boost ballot measures that allowed them to massively expand their casino operations.(Photo: William Thomas Cain, Getty Images)

Over the past decade, eight tribes in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have flexed their political muscle by contributing a collective total of more than $160 million to state and federal elections – mostly to advocate for expanded tribal gaming.

The Desert Sun examined campaign finance documents tribal nations have filed with the California Secretary of State and the Federal Election Commission since the 2007-2008 election cycle to determine the scope of local tribes’ political contributions. The figures calculated do not include contributions made in local elections, at the county and municipal level to campaigns for Sheriff, City Council or local ballot measures.

More than two-thirds of all the tribal campaign spending came from three tribes, to boost ballot measures that allowed them to massively expand their casino operations. The Pechanga, Morongo and Agua Caliente tribes collectively contributed nearly $110 million in support of four 2008 propositions, allowing them to triple the number of slots machines in their casinos, in exchange for giving the state a larger percentage of their revenue.

Dr. Fred Boehmke, a University of Iowa political science professor who has researched tribal nations and their campaign spending for more than a decade, said some tribal nations are among the country’s largest political contributors.

“We were comparing tribal contributions to contributions from some of the country’s larger companies and there are some tribes giving contributions on par with these companies,” he said.

As the gambling industry grew in the 1990s, tribal nations began increasing their profile in state and federal governments. They employed a broad strategy of building support, contributing to both Republicans and Democrats in order to establish connections that would allow them to gain access to legislators making decisions that affected their businesses, Boehmke said.

But although the political power some tribes can wield is notable, Boehmke said, it’s important to remember the diversity of Native American experiences throughout the United States.

Despite stereotypes, only a small portion of tribes have gotten rich enough from gaming and casinos to become players in electoral politics and Native Americans continue to be plagued by health disparities and poverty.

Local tribes have filed contributions to both the Democratic and Republican Party as well as both parties’ candidates for office. Collectively, they’ve contributed $1.6 million to political action committees at the state level and at least $20 million on the federal level. They’ve come out both for and against ballot initiatives in California’s unique proposition system, related to gaming, as well as to education and how the state issues bonds.

Of the eight tribes’ state-level contributions, 78 percent have gone to propositions, 9 percent have gone to candidates and 4 percent have gone to party committees.

The tribes have contributed to candidates running to represent the districts that overlap with their lands, including Coachella Valley politicians Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, Assemblyman Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, as well as politicians representing other pockets of the Inland Empire, including Reps. Ken Calvert, R-Corona and Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands.

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Raul Ruiz after he's asked a question during the Congressional debate on Oct. 16.(Photo: Richard Lui / The Desert Sun)

The local tribes have also contributed to legislators from other parts of the state and country. On the federal level, they’ve contributed to leaders of the Congressional Native American Caucus, including Reps. Tom Cole, R-OK, Frank Pallone, D-NJ, Betty McCollum, D-MN, Ben Lujan, D-NM, and Ed Perlmutter, D-CO, as well as California Republican Congressmen Jeff Denham, Kevin McCarthy, Darrell Issa, Devin Nunes, and Tom McClintock.

Each of the aforementioned candidates has a strong voting record on Native American issues and Cole is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. All have co-sponsored legislation that has benefited Native Americans and, with the exception of Perlmutter, each has authored legislation him or herself. Of the nine pieces of legislation Ruiz has authored that have been signed into law or become part of larger bill packages that have become law, two have been related to tribal concerns; the first was about land swaps between Banning and the Morongo Band and the second was about access to broadband on tribal lands.

Most Native American tribes have historically reported their campaign contributions to both the state and federal elections commissions. But in 2002, the California Fair Political Practice Commission (FPPC), the state agency that monitors campaign finance in state elections, sued the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians for not adequately filing contributions made to state campaigns. Agua Caliente argued California could not mandate it disclose its contributions because, as a sovereign nation, it was only subject to federal authority, not state regulation. The FPPC argued the non-disclosure damaged the integrity of state elections, and in 2006, the California Supreme Court ruled that tribal sovereignty did not exempt Agua Caliente or any other tribe throughout the state from campaign finance disclosure, forcing California’s tribal nations to report their campaign contributions from then forward.

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, whose land sits in Southwest Riverside County, has contributed $59 million to state elections and $5.7 million to federal elections over the past decade.

They’ve contributed a total of $30,000 to Rep. Tom Cole’s campaigns.

Along with the Agua Caliente, the Pechanga Band supported Proposition 30 in 2012, which raised taxes to prevent funding cuts to California’s education system. The Pechanga Band contributed and the Agua Caliente Band each contributed $100,000 in support of the measure.

The Pechanga Band has contributed more to candidates for California State Assembly than State Senate. They’ve contributed $3.7 million to State Assembly candidates since 2008, more than double the $1.4 million they’ve contributed to candidates for State Senate.

Palm Springs-based Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has contributed $3.8 million to federal elections and $25 million to state elections over the past decade.

The Agua Caliente Band has funneled more contributions to candidates running for the local congressional district than other neighboring tribes. Since 2008, they’ve contributed more than $25,000 to Dr. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, in his campaigns to represent California’s 36th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

However, they’ve also contributed to Ruiz’s opponents. From 2008 to 2012, they contributed $15,000 to Congresswoman Mary Bono’s campaign committee and, in 2014, they contributed $2000 to Ruiz’s opponent, former Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has contributed $4.5 million to federal elections and $47 million to state elections over the past decade.

Unlike the Agua Caliente Band, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ top recipients have not been local candidates for office. Since 2008, they’ve contributed $28,000 to both Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ, who currently serves as Vice Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, and Central California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes.

The Morongo Band has also contributed heavily to conservative political action committees over the past decade, including more than $50,000 to the Conservative Opportunity Leadership and Enterprise PAC and $60,000 to the Majority Committee PAC.

Other tribes in the Inland Empire—the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Soboba Band of Mission Indians and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians—have also collectively contributed more than $20 million to federal campaigns and more than $11 million to state-level to state elections; not as much as Pechanga, Agua Caliente or Morongo, but still comparable to other large special interest groups.

The San Manuel Band has contributed $125,000 to the Republican House Majority Committee, but their largest contributions to an individual candidate were to Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, to whom they’ve contributed as $29,000 since 2012. They’ve contributed $11 million to state elections. also have contributed $55,000 to Valley Solutions, a committee run by Adam Gray, the Democratic Assemblyman from Merced.

The Soboba Band of Mission Indians has contributed $29,000 to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign.